2 Chronicles 7–9

CHAPTER 7

The Glory of Yahweh Fills His House

^1aNow when Solomon had ¹finished praying, ^bfire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of Yahweh filled the house.

^2aAnd the priests could not enter into the house of Yahweh because the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh.

³And all the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the glory of Yahweh upon the house, bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave praise to Yahweh, saying, “^aFor He is good, for His lovingkindness endures forever.”

Offerings for the House of Yahweh

^4aNow the king and all the people were offering sacrifices before Yahweh.

⁵And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.

⁶And the priests stood at their posts, and ^athe Levites also, with the instruments of music to Yahweh, which King David had made for giving thanks to Yahweh—“for His lovingkindness endures forever”—whenever ¹he gave praise by their hand, while ^bthe priests on the other side blew trumpets; and all Israel was standing.

^7aThen Solomon set apart as holy the middle of the court that was before the house of Yahweh, because there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings; for the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to hold the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat.

⁸So ^aSolomon celebrated the feast at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly from ¹Lebo-hamath to the ^bbrook of Egypt.

⁹And on the eighth day they celebrated ^aa solemn assembly; for the dedication of the altar they celebrated seven days and the feast seven days.

¹⁰And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people to their tents, with gladness and goodness of heart because of the goodness that Yahweh had shown to David and to Solomon and to Israel His people.

Yahweh Appears to Solomon

^11aThus Solomon completed the house of Yahweh and the king’s house; and all that had come into Solomon’s heart to do in the house of Yahweh and in his house, he did successfully.

¹²Then Yahweh appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and ^ahave chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.

¹³“^aIf I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the grasshopper to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people,

^14aand My people ¹who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their evil ways, then I will listen from heaven, I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land.

¹⁵“^aNow My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the ¹prayer offered in this place.

¹⁶“So ^anow I have chosen and set this house apart as holy that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.

¹⁷“As for you, if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, even to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My judgments,

¹⁸then I will establish your royal throne as I cut a covenant with your father David, saying, ‘^1aYou shall not have a man cut off as ruler in Israel.’

¹⁹“^aBut if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,

^20athen I will uproot you from My land which I have given ¹you, and this house which I have set apart as holy for My name I will cast out of My presence and I will make it ^ba proverb and a byword among all peoples.

²¹“As for this house, which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will feel desolate and say, ‘^aWhy has Yahweh done thus to this land and to this house?’

²²“And they will say, ‘Because ^athey forsook Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt and took hold of other gods and worshiped them and served them, therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.’”

CHAPTER 8

Solomon Builds Cities

^1aNow it happened at the end of the twenty years in which Solomon had built the house of Yahweh and his own house

²that he built the cities which Huram had given to ¹him, and settled the sons of Israel there.

³Then Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and overpowered it.

⁴And he built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the storage cities which he had built in Hamath.

⁵He also built upper ^aBeth-horon and lower Beth-horon, ^bfortified cities with walls, gates and bars;

⁶and Baalath and all the storage cities which Solomon had, and all the cities for ¹his chariots, and the cities for ²his horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land ³under his rule.

^7aAs for all the people who were left of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel,

⁸namely, from their sons who were left after them in the land whom the sons of Israel had not consumed, ^afrom them Solomon raised up forced laborers to this day.

⁹But Solomon did not make slaves for his work from the sons of Israel; for they were men of war, his chief captains and his chariot commanders and his horsemen.

¹⁰These were the chief ¹deputies of King Solomon, 250 who ruled over the people.

^11aThen Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the city of David to the house which he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not live in the house of David king of Israel, because ¹the places are holy where the ark of Yahweh has entered.”

¹²Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to Yahweh on ^athe altar of Yahweh which he had built before the porch;

¹³and ^adid so according to the daily rule, offering them up ^baccording to the commandment of Moses, for ^cthe sabbaths, ^dthe new moons and the ^ethree annual feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Booths.

¹⁴And according to the judgment of his father David, he caused ^athe divisions of the priests to stand for their service, and ^bthe Levites for their responsibilities to praise and minister before the priests according to the daily rule, and ^cthe gatekeepers by their divisions at every gate; for ^dDavid the man of God had so commanded.

¹⁵And they did not turn away from the commandment of the king to the priests and Levites in any manner or concerning the treasuries.

¹⁶Thus all the work of Solomon was carried out ¹from the day of the foundation of the house of Yahweh, and until it was completed. So the house of Yahweh was finished.

¹⁷Then Solomon went to ^aEzion-geber and to ^bEloth on the shore of the sea in the land of Edom.

¹⁸And Huram by the hand of his servants sent him ships and servants who knew the sea; and they went with Solomon’s servants to Ophir, and ^atook from there ¹450 talents of gold and brought them to King Solomon.

CHAPTER 9

The Queen of Sheba

^1aNow the queen of Sheba heard the report about Solomon. So she came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with riddles. She had a very glorious retinue, with camels carrying spices and a large amount of gold and precious stones. And she came to Solomon and spoke with him about all that was in her heart.

²And Solomon declared to her the answer to all her matters; and not a matter was hidden from Solomon which he did not declare to her.

³Then the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, the house which he had built,

⁴the food at his table, the seating of his servants, the disposition of his attendants and their attire, his cupbearers and their attire, and ¹his stairway by which he went up to the house of Yahweh, so that there was no more spirit in her.

⁵Then she said to the king, “The word is true which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom.

⁶“Nevertheless I did not believe their words until I came and my eyes had seen it. And behold, the half of the greatness of your wisdom was not declared to me. You exceed the report which I heard.

⁷“How ¹blessed are your men, how ²blessed are these your servants who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom.

⁸“Blessed be Yahweh your God who delighted in you, ^ato set you on His throne as king for Yahweh your God; ^bbecause your God loved Israel to cause them to stand forever, therefore He gave you as king over them, to do justice and righteousness.”

⁹Then she gave the king ¹120 talents of gold and a very great amount of spices and precious stones. There had never been spice like that which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹⁰Also, the servants of Huram and the servants of Solomon, ^awho brought gold from Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones.

¹¹And the king made of the algum trees steps for the house of Yahweh and for the king’s house, and lyres and harps for the singers; and none like that was seen before in the land of Judah.

¹²Thus King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire which she asked, besides a return for what she had brought to the king. Then she turned around and went to her own land together with her servants.

Solomon’s Riches and Wisdom

^13aNow the weight of gold which came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold,

¹⁴besides that which the traders and merchants brought; and all ^athe kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.

¹⁵And King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold, ¹using ²600 shekels of beaten gold on each large shield.

¹⁶And he made 300 shields of beaten gold, ¹using ²300 shekels of gold on each shield, and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.

¹⁷Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold.

¹⁸And there were six steps to the throne and a footstool in gold attached to the throne, and ¹arms ²on each side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the ³arms.

¹⁹Twelve lions were also standing there on the six steps on the one side and on the other; nothing like it was made for any other kingdom.

²⁰Now all King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; silver…